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The NFL Players Association has agreed to the league's plan to drop all preseason games for the 2020 season, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the offer had not been made public.

The union also agreed to a 80-player roster limit for training camp, instead of the usual 90.

The players’ union plan came during a conference call on Tuesday.

The agreement between the union and the league came a day after league made a proposal on not playing any preseason games because of the coronavirus pandemic.



The players’ association originally had sought no preseason games and the league had reduced the exhibition schedule to two games. But on Monday evening, the NFL said it would eliminate those preseason contests and also would offer players 18 days for acclimation, up from seven days.

Also on Monday, the league said players will be tested daily for the coronavirus for at least the first two weeks of training camp, per the league’s new testing protocols.

Rookies have started reporting this week and all players are expected to report next week.

jeanpierre

Wow, only 80. Starting to doubt will see a complete regular season now...

AsylumGuido

I don't see your correlation here, JP. Reducing the roster size has nothing to do with chances of having the complete regular season. Ever since the player's association threw out the demand for no playoff games I was hearing talk about not needing a full 90 player roster. The bottom rung of bodies are only there to field a team for the preseason games while resting banged up players and the 50 or so players with virtual locks on the roster. The point was why have players that are not needed at all increasing any risk, however small it may be.

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

AsylumGuido

Notice how the Associated Press spins this announcement? They try to put a negative spin on it in the first sentence by implying that the league wanted to eliminate the remaining preseason games and not the players. Then later they reverse that hidden near the end. Your average reader only reads the headline or the first paragraph of most articles. That's why, as a writer, you want to give the whole point of the article in that first paragraph and then expound.

AsylumGuido

Here is an ESPN article with FAR more detail to the agreement including more detail on the reasoning for reducing the roster.

Sources: NFL proposes 80-man training camp rosters; agreement reached on scrapping 2020 preseason

If and when NFL training camps open next week, as currently scheduled, teams' rosters will include a maximum of 80 players, as opposed to the usual 90, in an effort to help enforce social distancing measures in team facilities. This is according to sources who were on an NFLPA players call Tuesday night discussing details of the league's latest proposal on coronavirus protocols.

Sources also said the NFL and the union officially agreed Tuesday to the league's plan to drop all preseason games for the 2020 season. The agreement came a day after the league offered to the union to play no preseason games this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thus, with Tuesday's developments, the league and the players' union are inching closer to an agreement on rules that will govern training camp and the season under these difficult circumstances. Weeks of negotiations seem to be coming to a head, as sources who were on the players' call Tuesday night said there has been agreement on several issues but work remains to be done on others.

The NFL and the NFLPA announced Monday that they had agreed on COVID-19 testing protocols. Players and team personnel will be tested every day for the first two weeks of training camp, then every other day, as long as their team's positive test rate is and remains under 5%. Additionally, sources said, the league and the union have agreed to the 80-player roster limit for training camp.

In a typical year, many teams have to add stalls to their usual locker rooms to accommodate 90-man camp rosters. But this year, with rules mandating 6 feet of space between lockers, teams have had to get creative in terms of locating new space for auxiliary locker rooms. Some teams are using rooms that otherwise would be vacant, such as media work rooms, and some teams are importing trailers and finding other means of adding space. The hope is that reducing rosters to 80 will help limit the extent to which teams have to create that extra space.

You can read the rest here ...

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

Beastmode

Years ago, that would be put in the first lines. Every article today takes the headline and repeats it again in the first line to reinforce the headline like cured concrete.

The last paragraph contradicts both.

AsylumGuido

Yup. The AP has consistently been moving in this direction. Both my old editor and my wife's 1st cousin are AP writers so I am unbiased.

Halo

Nobody knows how to write anymore, especially journalists. I'm not even that old and most journalists today would have flunked out of College English.

SmashMouth

Engrish... Dey don't speak/write no Engrish?

Rugby Saint II

Pretty soon we won't need to speak English as well. Better brush up on your Spanish. Adios me amigos.

All kidding aside, I read a typo or improper grammar in almost every article that I read. What happened to proof readers or editors? I guess they are too costly to keep around.